So, the show went great, no problems and we've already sold a lot more than I expected.
I was sitting at the booth when someone came over and looked at the photos that were displayed outside on our A-Frame display. Then he came in and started looking through the portfolio albums. I did the normal, Hi can I help you, he said "Just seeing what you're about." Then I asked if he was a competitor and if he would like a free carrot for his horse? "No, I don't have a horse here." Then he asked if we were a show sponsor (at this point, I pretty much knew who he was), I said that we were and I asked him if he was with the organization sponsoring the show to which he said "No, not exactly." And kept looking at our albums....then says "Hmmm, carrots, interesting idea."
Finally, he said "So are all of these pictures from Ohio?" I said "No, actually the majority of them are from here in Florida, we just moved from Ohio though, may I ask how you knew that?"
him: "I have my sources."
me: "Oh, what are your sources?"
him: "Actually, your wife." [at this point, he STILL had not introduced himself or made ANY allusion to the fact that he was our competitor]
me: "I see."
him: [in a very dramatic tone] "I'm _______ _________"
me: "Oh! Great! Nice to meet you, I know that my wife has been trying to meet with you."
Now, that was 10 minutes into his coming over that he took to introduce himself. I knew that he'd be there, so I was kind of expecting it, but I really didn't expect the cryptic responses and stealthy "checking us out" attitude. I mean, we have a public booth, if you want to come look and ask questions, I'm obviously going to answer, competitor or not. The dude hung around for another 5-10 minutes waiting to talk to my wife and not saying anything (she was with another customer), then he took off. About 10 minutes later, after my wife had gone back to take pictures, he pulled up in his car, left it running, jumped out and gave me his card and left. Two hours later, he came back with his wife and her horse for her show time....and oddly enough didn't bring him camera or take a single picture. It is a public park, so he is perfectly welcome to, I just thought it was odd.
Later, while his wife was competing, he sat behind my wife while she was photographer and made a few snide comments and gave her "advice" on photography - advice which is probably perfectly fine for normal photography, but not generally accepted for horse photography. We have spent a lot of time shadowing professional equine photographers who shoot major international shows and have been doing solely equine photography for many many years. My wife didn't respond back to his comments and thanked him nicely for his advice. (advice, being things like "you need a different lense"; horse photography is supposed to be done with at AT LEAST 100mm, or more so that the horse is in the proper proportions, closer lenses tend to make the horse's head look large and give a bad perspective. Perfect for artsy stuff, but not so much for horse shows. Another one was "You need to move more, so that you get a 3/4 shot of every horse during the salute," which is again, great for normal photography or sports photography, but salute shots are almost always done from the side or front, generally the side, because horse photographers as a rule DO NOT move. Spectators are supposed to be quiet and sit still, photographer included - we're not even supposed to use flash, even inside, so that it doesn't spook the horse and cause it to throw the rider. Plus, the 3/4 shot of the salute shows the rider well, but not the horse, which is the point.)
So that was certainly one of the most odd encounters that I can remember. Not how I would have chosen to handle things, but to each his own.....Of course, it had the effect that he probably intended. Now I'm wondering what his set up is, what kind of camera he uses, etc. I kind of feel at a disadvantage because he was able to come over and dig into our entire operation and refused to answer any of my questions. Even after I would answer his questions and ask how he did it, he refused to say...
So, I guess we'll see what happens at the next show. I'm certainly curious what his set up is, but I'm debating whether I should go to a show that he's shooting just to check him out.
